


Dude, Where's My Life?

by MzRogueRaz (EggplantRed)



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Black Character(s), Cryo Pod, F/M, Gen, Leaving It All, Memories, Past, Vault 111
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-12 14:29:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5669377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EggplantRed/pseuds/MzRogueRaz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabble/ficlet collection of the Commonwealth escapades of my sole survivor, Francesca 'Frankie' Rollins.</p><p>Rated M for now, may change later. Spoilerish chapters will be marked in beginning notes.</p><p>1~ Catalyst (Frankie/Roman)<br/>2~ Sanctuary (Frankie, Codsworth, Preston Garvey)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Catalyst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She was helpless to do anything. All Frankie could do was watch.  
> A single event would spark a massive fire to come for the Commonwealth.

“What the…”

She smacked her hand against the frosty glass. Disoriented, she shook her head, trying to escape the mental fog.

“What the fuck...what the…”

Cloudy figures moved just on the other side. Their muffled voices began coming through a little clearer. Her eyes struggled to adjust so she could make out the figures outside the pod.

“This is the one. Here.”

“Open it.”

The door to his chamber opened and Roman stood there, holding the baby, trying to get his bearings. Avery began to cry out and Frankie hit the glass again, attempting to get Roman’s attention.

“Avery! Roman!”

She watched as he bent over and coughed, still clutching their son tightly.

He turned to the person in all white, “Is it over? Are we okay?”

Just then, Frankie saw it. The gun resting against his leg out of Roman’s sight, she watched the man raise his other hand trying to reassure Roman, “Almost. Everything’s going to be fine.”

The other person reached out for Avery and Frankie leapt to the door with all the energy she could muster.

“Get the fuck away from them! Leave them alone! Don’t let go of him, Ro!”

A struggle ensued as Avery was wrangled from Roman’s arms. Frankie banged on the glass, trying desperately to bring the attention on herself. She could only watch helplessly as Avery was taken from one side and Roman was taken on the other.

Tears welled in her eyes as she watched the love of her life slump back into the pod lifelessly. The man who loved her in spite of who she was, what she did, what she’d become. Roman saw Francesca, not just Frankie, not just the enforcer that could bring a person to their knees with a well placed punch to the gut. He got to see the woman who loved yellow roses and red lilies, the woman who dotted her I’s with hearts in love notes to him, the woman who loved a hot bubble bath while nestled in his arms. Roman saw the soft, sweet center encased by a hardened, tough outer shell. She began to scream, her muscles tensed with every octave she reached. She screamed until she was out of breath. Her stomach in crippling pain, her heart torn in two as she watched them close his pod and walk away with her son.

“Goddamn it. Get the kid outta here and let’s go. At least we still got the backup.”

The chamber was starting to become murky again, her eyelids grew heavier by the second. Her mind scrambled to note the details of the man who’d just taken her family from her. The man who now found himself at the top of her list once she found her way out of there.

“Bald head, scar across the eye, brown leather jacket, nice six shooter. I’ll find you asshole.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From my headcanon:  
> \- Roman Allendale: spouse from beginning of game  
> \- Avery Allendale: Frankie and Roman's son; middle name is Shaun


	2. Sanctuary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After all this time, after everything that'd happened it was still there. Those four walls that'd once been their refuge, an escape from it all was nothing more than a shell now.

Frankie could faintly hear them behind her as they walked down the main street. Sighs of relief that they may have found somewhere they could settle. Hope that they could finally get off the road and even possibly call this place home. Her mind refused to allow her to join in with the people she'd just helped. She could only focus on the house up the street. Codsworth hovered out in the front yard, eager to speak with her. It was almost like when he'd check on them sometimes when they arrived home from their 'jobs'. They never shared with Codsworth what they really did when they left the house and he never asked why they were so heavily armed. Why neighbors weren't to be allowed in the house or about the hidden safes in the bedroom floors. They all maintained a blissful facade that seemed to suit the robot just fine.  
  
"Ma'am? Did you find some assistance in Concord?" Codsworth buzzed about.  
  
Frankie nodded and made her way past him into the house. She stood in the foyer and looked around while Dogmeat made himself at home, curling up at the end of the worn couch. It was no longer like the home they'd been in but it still felt familiar to her. Roman's chair was still in the window. TV still where it was when they ran out of the house that day. The breakfast nook and kitchen were in considerably worse shape but the shell of them still there. Frankie walked into the kitchen and looked over everything. Her fingers reached the counter's edge, trailed along the ridge as she reminisced.  
  
Roman standing at the stove while she sat on the counter across from him. The two of them talking while she snuck pieces of diced veggies off the cutting board. Roman playfully poking her to stop before there was nothing left to cook. Her grabbing his shirt and pulling him between her legs. Her hands gently tugging his soft beard down, legs wrapping around him as they get caught up in a kiss. She closed her eyes and could almost see him, smell him, feel him again. So sweet the memory yet so jarring to be slammed back into her bleak reality. A reality that didn’t have him anymore.  
  
One step at a time, she made her way down the hall, stopping just in front of their rooms. She glanced to her left into the room’s chaos. Their bed was nothing but a frame, walls exposed, furniture in disarray, none of it like they’d left it. She closed her eyes and could see their bodies entangled in purple sheets, passionate sounds emanating from them. The love, the desire, passion filling the room more and more. She leaned against the door jamb, smiling through the brimming tears, wishing she could go back.  
  
She took a deep breath and readied herself to finally look in his room. As she walked in and stood in front of his crib, she wondered if he was doing okay. Was he safe wherever he was right now? What had he seen? What had he been through since he was taken from the vault? She couldn’t imagine what he was going through and from what she’d seen of the world now, she didn’t want her son out there without her. Memories of him with his father’s nose and her grey eyes, the dimples in his cheek when he smiled, his laughter when tickled, how he liked to hold their finger as he fell asleep, all of it began to flood her and she felt her loss much more sharply.

Her head began pulsing, the rhythmic throbbing flooded her ears, drowning out everything around her until there was nothing but silence. Warmth surged throughout leaving her skin glistening with miniscule sweat beads. The rage bubbled and boiled the longer she stared at his crib. The mobile was still attached, spinning in the faint breeze blowing in, almost taunting her. They'd taken everything from her. The loves of her life were gone. Snatched away before her eyes when she was helpless to do anything about it. The pain in her stomach from that day returned, a scream rolled in her chest. She dropped her bag at her feet and grabbed the crib railing, her knuckles bulging as her grip tightened, paint chips flaking off the metal rail. All she could think about was wanting her life back, her mind and heart at odds, fighting the reality that things would never be the same again. Seething in fury she could no longer contain, she lifted the crib up and tossed it into the wall. Frankie grabbed the baton off her belt and began smashing the dresser, the chair, the crib, whatever stood in her path. All of the furnishings began falling apart under her punishing kicks and blows. Her flurried movements, coupled with infuriated screams, eventually left her dazed and gasping for breath. Her lungs could no longer sustain her, she finally collapsed to her knees on the floor in the rubble. The baton rolled away as half-choked sobs gushed from her.  
  
Codsworth hovered in the doorway, "Ma'am! I heard a terrible ruckus outside. Are you alright?"  
  
Dogmeat trotted in after him and sat beside Frankie as she kneeled there on the floor. With a small whimper, his wet nose nudged her shoulder. She couldn't acknowledge them, not just yet. All she wanted to do was cry. Dogmeat remained by her side, his head in her lap, attempting to soothe her the only way he knew. Codsworth floated in the doorway, giving her space, but remaining there just in case.  
  
After a few minutes, her emotions finally abated, it was time. She rubbed Dogmeat's back and was ready to set off. Dogmeat got up and walked out, assured his new owner was ready at last. Frankie tied her baton back on and as she reached for her bag, she saw the wings. One of the rockets from Avery's mobile somehow survived her rampage. One last memento she told herself as she stashed it in her bag and rose to her feet.  
  
"Codsworth, I have to do something. Dogmeat is coming with me. I'll be back for you." Frankie softly banged on his dome and smiled as best she could. She was hoping she would come back for him, that the Commonwealth wouldn't make a liar out of her.  
  
"No worries, ma'am. I'll hold down the homestead until you and the pup return. Hopefully with Master Avery in tow. I've learned some new tales to share with him."  
  
Frankie tightened the straps of her bag and walked into the living room for one last look. She wanted to remember all the good times they'd had here, no matter the reason they were actually in Sanctuary Hills. Her, Roman and Avery had good times in that house and she wanted to keep that. With a quick exhale, she motioned for Dogmeat and began on her way. She kept her eyes forward, mind devising a plan as they made their way down the main street, when she heard footsteps behind her.  
  
"Hey wait up," Preston called out, jogging to catch up to her.  
  
Frankie stopped a few feet from the entrance sign. She couldn't bring herself to face him, looking back only made the realization that he was gone, _they_ were gone more real.  
  
Dogmeat stopped up ahead and circled slowly on the rickety bridge awaiting her.  
  
"You don't have to go out there alone. We could all help each other, still do some good for your fellow neighbor. There haven't been a lot of neighborly folks crossing our path lately." Preston kept his hopes high but her mind was made up.  
  
"Preston, I watched my son taken from his father's arms seconds before his father was killed. We all used to live in this neighborhood. I ran down this very street beside the two of them when the sirens started going off and they were directing us all to the vault." Her fist tightened around the baton handle as she tried to swallow past the knot forming in her throat. "This place holds nothing but ghosts. I get that it may be a sanctuary for you and your group, but this is hell for me. I can't stay. I won't." She dropped her head, tears beginning to fall as the memories began coming back to her.  
  
"Damn, I'm sorry. I hope you find him. Let me know if there's any way I can help." Preston leaned back on his heels and tipped his hat up. "I hope you find some peace."  
  
Frankie wiped her tears away and finally faced him. Peace. Find some peace. That word didn't provide the relief he intended, it only fueled her. Reminded her of what she'd lost. She'd turned so abruptly, Preston stumbled back slightly. "I'm not searching for peace. My peace died in Vault 111. I'm going to find the piece of shit who took it from me and give him what he deserves then I'm getting my son back."


End file.
